High Energy Guinea Pig Pellets
A Guinea Pig diet specifically designed for breeding colonies where fresh supplementary feeds are not used.
- Energy has been increased by around 10% over the standard diet. Protein has been increased slightly, fibre reduced, lipid energy increased and carbohydrate energy maintained. Lipid source has been broadened to maximise range of fatty acids and maximise polar lipids (important precursors for prostaglandin biosynthesis). These modifications were made after it was found that breeding guinea pigs fed the standard GPR diet without fresh food supplementation had a higher incidence of late pregnancy toxemia. This problem was not found in any breeding facilities where the standard GPR diet was fed along with a range of fresh fruit or vegetables.
- For animal breeding facilities with relatively small, open Guinea Pig breeding colonies we would recommend a mixed feeding regime of GPR and fresh fruit / vegetables.
- The formulation includes a form of vitamin C with good stability, however it is known that considerable vitamin C degradation occurs on autoclaving the diet at 1200 C. Whilst we have had no reports of symptoms of vitamin C deficiency in colonies fed this diet exclusively, we would recommend that the water of all Guinea Pigs be supplemented with Vitamin C.
- Feed is manufactured as a cylindrical pellet 4 mm diameter and 4 – 10 mm long.
- The diet is packed in bags suitable for direct loading into an autoclave.
- If the diet is to be autoclaved, the recommended conditions are: Autoclave at 120O C for 20 minutes with a post autoclaving vacuum drying cycle. Some clumping of the diet can be expected, but the diet clumps can usually be easily broken. Modifying the drying time to leave some residual moisture in the diet can minimise the clumping. Do not autoclave at 1350 C as this will result in significant clumping that will be difficult to break.